Flip Flops For Christmas?

I believe it was the Christmas I was about seven years old is when I began to realize my great aunt was a little crazy  eccentric.  We always visited her a few days before the holiday to exchange gifts.  This year she had  many, many gifts under the tree and she told me to pick one…any one.  I can remember being so excited as this was the first gift I was allowed to open this Christmas.

My excitement was shattered as I pulled out a pair of blue plastic flip flops. Now these were no ordinary child’s flip flops…they were men’s size thirteen!  My mom, dad and baby sister all got flip flops too… various sizes and colors.

My mother, being the polite Southern lady she was, thanked my aunt for the gifts and had me give her a hug. On the way home my parents talked in a soft whisper but every once in a while they would giggle and I would hear my mom say “bless her heart“.  When I asked my mom why I got men’s shoes for Christmas she told me my aunt was not herself  because she was going through the change.  No one was willing to tell me exactly what the change meant.

Her change must have lasted a really long time because the next year we all got men’s XXL sweat shirts and the following year we all got different size socks!

I want to hear what was the strangest gift you ever received.
Can you top my flip flops?
Lucia
Author

35 thoughts on “Flip Flops For Christmas?”

  1. I almost fell off the couch, Sherry! Just be glad she stayed away from the underwear aisle! : )

    I don't think I've gotten anything that would come close to flip flops. I have gotten a few gifts that I scratch my head over because it is not anything I like or said I've liked and can't figure out how they came to the decision on getting that gift.

  2. Sherry, that is just a hoot! I can't top size 13 flip flops or "the change". I can't wait to hear what others have to contribute. Thanks for the great holiday laugh. Merry Christmas.

  3. It's hard to top a good flip-flop story, but I did get a clearance priced maternity top…when I was 42!
    You think maybe the "change" was all in her head? LOL
    Debbie

  4. I'm not sure anything can top the size 13 flip flops! How funny, but as a kid I bet you were very confused! Years ago this battery screwdriver was a being advertised at Christmas, I kept say to my husband, isn't that neat?? Trying to see if he might want one..no reaction from him. Guess what was under the tree for me! Yep the screwdriver, he thought I wanted it since I kept talking about it…Men! The next year I got a pearl necklace so he did make up for it!

  5. I was sure you were going to finish with the fact that she was taking you all to Hawaii! Not a chance huh? Nope, there is no way I can top that. My Christmas gifts have been way too normal. Have a very Merry Christmas.

  6. Hi Sherry,
    I love this story about your Aunt.
    I had an Aunt like her too. She wore real heavy awful smelling perfume and her entire house smelled horrible!
    Well anyway she gave me a bag of cookies and fudge and when I bit into it smelled like her perfume! It was awful! LOL! Another crazy Aunt would give us fruitcake! yuck!!
    It would be hard to top the flip flop gift. Just think if there was blogging then you could have asked a blogger to create something using flipflops!!

    Have a beautiful Christmas my sweet friend. I always enjoy your blog and you are a doll.

    hugs
    Sissie

  7. Sherry, It sounds like you were such a trooper especially for a 7 year old. My daughter is 6 1/2 and I don't know how she would handle this. Many Blessings to you for being so kind.

    I might be able to top your strange gift; however, I was an adult when I received it. My mother in law had just remarried and she and her new husband were telling us about these wonderful deals on electronics at Target (hinting to camcorders which they bought for his two children) I was so excited! Well, I opened three large copy paper boxes full of jello and cake mixes. No kidding! Then my darling mother in law asked for the boxes back for other gifts she was giving. What?!#& My husband and I still laugh about this and can't beleive that anyone especially your own parent would give jello as a gift, but I graciously didn't say a word.
    Merry Christmas!

  8. I also had an "eccentric" aunt who used to hide gifts from herself each year and whichever one of us was "lucky" enough to stop by for a visit had to hunt for them….she'd buy lots of Avon products and knee hi's!

    My funniest memory is one year I went to unwrap a present from my nanny & bubby (grandparents)…when I tore off the paper there was a Whitman's sampler box….mom said the expression on my face was priceless as I tried to disguise my disappointment, but once I opened the box there inside was a shirt with a horse on it….I was a horse freak! Much better than chocolate (now I love a box of chocolate) just goes to show how our priorities change!

    Merry Christmas,
    Judy

  9. What a wonderful Christmas memory … strange as it is. I live in flip flops in the summer! A few years ago, my husband, brother, and brother-in-law all got velour track suits for Christmas. Each looked at the other as they opened their gifts, shaking their heads and looking oh-so confused. The only thing that was missing from the boxes was the huge gold chains to complete the outfits … got any bling?

  10. Oh, my gosh Sherry! What a funny story! I can just imagine what was going through your little girl mind. Soooooo funny! And your mom taught you something very valuable, how to be be gracious and think of others.
    What a delightful stop.
    Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas!
    xo Yvonne

  11. I don't have a funny story, but one I'm still not sure how to take. My m-i-l gave me a sweater for my birthday- she got it at the thrift store where she volunteered. It was very tacky and badly pilled. She said she thought it "looked like me." Hmmm…. Whatcha' think? 🙂

  12. Funny!

    Well, it actually was my DAUGHTER'S gift, but we still laugh about it…. My daughter was about 14 and her grandmother bought her a jumbo set of Bo-Po peel off nail polish…. I think it' a gift for a child of five. 🙂

    Have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas…filled with loads and loads of blessings,
    Spencer

  13. When I was a child, every year my Uncle Aubyn would do his Christmas shopping at Liberty Drug on Christmas Eve…and every single year, he would give my sister and me new Kodak Brownie cameras. They lined the top of our closets. We had the market cornered on Kodak Brownies. Thank you for sharing your fun memory. I'm going to link to your party. Merry Christmas! Cherry Kay

  14. This post was such a great idea! I laughed when I read yours but I am sure at 7 yo it was not funny. The strangest thing I ever got was from a male friend who was very, very, very cheap. He gave me a ring that looked like it came from the gumball machine or inside a cereal box. Being a "polite" 20 year old, I took it and said thank you. I was never so insulted. I never wore it and I never saw him again. My friends think it is very funny now but wasn't then to me.
    Great post, it was fun reading all the others.
    Merry Christmas,
    CareyAnn

  15. One of the strangest gifts I ever received was a pin cushion given to me by an aged relative as a bridal shower gift. I guess she thought she was being practical! But a pin cushion?! LOL
    I don't think that your flip flop story can ever be topped, Sherry. Hope you have a Merry Christmas and you get something you want!
    ~ Sue

  16. Sherry I came across your blog by way of My Romantic Home. I read your Christmas gift post and I was laughing so loud I woke hubby up who was asleep in the chair and now he's in the bed. That is the
    funniest story and I think you get the trophy for the strangest gift.
    I am like your mom, bless her heart,at least she tried. Sounds like you handled it very well for a 7yr. old. Merry Christmas to you.

  17. This is funny … but all a part of memories! I had an Aunt that always got us a very nice present for Christmas, but we always had to give her a kiss before we got it! and we all felt the same way … "yuck"!! and today, that is just a memory!
    Merry Christmas!
    Pink Hugs,
    Dee

  18. Ha! Sherry–I've got a cousin–my grandfather's first cousin exactly…she always gives my aunt a regifted present each year–sometimes the original gift tag complete with the to and from filled out are inside the gift from where she tore it off the wrapping paper and put it in the box so she'd know where it came from–but would regift it later and forget to remove the tag! Ha! Also, my grandmother's fav story–she was about 5 (65ish years ago…) Her mom, my great-grandmother, had regifted something and when her uncle unwrapped it, grandma tells him that "daddy didn't like that so momma re-wrapped it for you!"

  19. It is so nice to read stories about "special" elderly family members. I married into a very large family (my husband in 3rd of 9 – and they are not Catholic), so the propensity for odd gifts is a given. However my great-aunt was the strangest gift giver.

    Every year give my mother and me 1.5L bottles of pink bubbe bath and cocoa butter, that always smelled like cheap old lady perfume. When I was a teenager however, my great-aunt decided to give me an extra present. Her present was a purple and blue Barney the Dinosaur fanny pack. I thanked her and then gave it to the 6 year old across the street.

  20. I know I'm late to this party but just had to share. For our wedding (17 years ago), one of my husband's relatives gave us a gift with a card that had a photo of an elephant on the front (blank on the inside). At least they wrote a congratulatory message on the inside but I always wondered about the elephant.

    P.S. I was barely 110 lbs then so I know it wasn't a dig about my weight. 😉

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